I didn’t send it as racist, although that’s what it is. I sent it out because it’s anti-Obama.

Thanks for clearing that up!

4. Speaking of emails, Buffalo developer Carl Paladino sent out an email yesterday demanding that the Republicans in the state senate move immediately to remove Skelos from his post as majority leader, or else Carl and his band of tea party folks who led him to a sweeping 33% – 62% loss to Andrew Cuomo in 2010 would recruit candidates to replace every single one of them.

Your self-serving and weak demeanor and participation in illusion and theatrics in dealing with the Governor, Sheldon Silver and the establishment cabal in Albany are an affront to the people who worked so hard to elect a Republican senate majority only to be thrown under the bus.

You are either incompetent or diabolical in your indifference to what was expected of you in leading the opposition and highlighting and bargaining for issues vital to your party and the taxpayers. Your inability to demand government transparency or to adopt it as required process in senate deliberations was unacceptable.

This memo shall serve as my demand, on behalf of the Republican Party rank and file, for your immediate resignation as majority leader of the N.Y. State Senate.

The Free Republican Caucus Initiative will deal with those other treacherous Republican Senators who with you sold out their integrity and abrogated their pledges to the taxpayers.

I think it’s precious that Mr. Paladino presumes to speak, “on behalf of the Republican Party rank and file” despite having been elected to no office whatsoever. As for “Free Republican Caucus Initiative”, it should be henceforth known by the acronym, “FREECCI”. FREECCI released a demand that any Republican senator who doesn’t wish to face a tea party primary sign some pledge or another, enumerating Carl Paladino’s demands. Aside from Skelos, however, only a certain number of senators are singled out:

We will support republican candidates who agree to a simple pledge stated at the end of this memo. Included are a slate of republican primary candidates to oppose Mark Grisanti, James Alessi, Roy McDonald and Stephen Saland, all of whom showed a lack of integrity and respect for those who elected them.

What do they all have in common? They were the four Republican state senators who voted in favor of same sex marriage last year. Although Paladino never mentions it once in yesterday’s release, covering up all his fury with angry rhetoric about Medicaid, the deficit, transparency, and the media – this all comes down to the fact that these guys voted to let the gays marry, and Skelos let them do it.

8. Warren Buffet, whose Berkshire Hathaway owns the Buffalo News, is a huge fan of paywalls. A paywall at the Buffalo News is under consideration, and its implementation would only do further harm to it.

This is ironic as all hell. At the same time the Illinois GOP nominates an
anti-Semite as a Congressional candidate, our New York GOP has fashioned a
district in Brooklyn in place of the one Carl Kruger was representing before he
went to jail. They are cramming the district with Orthodox and Hassidic Jews
and running an Orthodox candidate in a special election on March 20 to succeed
Kruger.

And what do you think they’re running on. The fact that they will represent
these folks and make sure that gays get their right including marriage rights
get rolled back. Right now in Brooklyn they are attacking the Democratic candidate who is a New York City Councilman named Lew Fidler for his VOTE for
gay marriage. The fact he wasn’t even the Legislature to vote for it matters
not at all. This race is taking place on the same day as the Fahey-Kearns
Assembly race in New York is in Buffalo. Watch the race in Brooklyn also.

Wow, Bedenko, you don’t even try to conceal your hatred of Catholics, do you? “Papist?” Odd how a supporter of hate-speech laws actively uses hate-speech. So you happily use slurs if they pertain to the Catholic Church? What do your Catholic friends in the Clarence Democratic Party think of you openly using anti-Catholic slurs on a public forum? I know a few who are Catholics and I think they’d be pretty offended to read these hate-filled diatribes. Tone down the hatred, Alan. You’re coming off a lot nastier than I think you intend.

Wow, Bedenko, you don’t even try to conceal your hatred of Catholics, do you?

I don’t hate Catholics. I hate people who try to impose their religious beliefs on others within the sphere of government and politics.

“Papist?” Odd how a supporter of hate-speech laws actively uses hate-speech. So you happily use slurs if they pertain to the Catholic Church?

Santorum’s primary loyalties are – he admits – with God and his Church. How could it then be derogatory?

What do your Catholic friends in the Clarence Democratic Party think of you openly using anti-Catholic slurs on a public forum? I know a few who are Catholics and I think they’d be pretty offended to read these hate-filled diatribes.

Then by all means, please send this to them all. I really don’t care. Your creepy threats don’t affect me.

Tone down the hatred, Alan. You’re coming off a lot nastier than I think you intend.

No, I think I hit exactly the right amount of nastiness in response to this particular serious major party candidate. I also am not a big fan of churches that actively protect pedophilic clergy, or, frankly, of any church or organized religion whatsoever.

Maybe people like you and Santorum can keep your religious beliefs and biases to yourself, and not try to proselytize or impose them on people who aren’t interested. Have a great day!

Santorum no more speaks for Catholics than Nancy Pelosi. He is as out of step with Church teaching on war as Pelosi is with Church teachings on the sanctity of life. But that’s besides the point, Alan. You know full well that “papist” is a derogatory term for Catholics. If some right-leaning politician or blogger used a similar derogatory term to refer to Muslims or Jews, you’d be first in line calling for his expulsion from polite society. There is a way to disagree with the Church without resulting to using anti-Catholic slurs. God knows we all say things we later regret. You’re human, Alan. Just admit that you were wrong and apologize.

And it’s also amusing that you don’t see the hypocrisy in this statement:

“I hate people who try to impose their religious beliefs on others within the sphere of government and politics.”

But isn’t the Obama administration and the cultural left trying to impose their secular humanist “views on others within the sphere of government and politics” with this contraception mandate?

Papist is a slur? Really? Get over yourself. Santorum is a papist, by definition. The word is reserved for those who hold the Roman Catholic version of God, Catholic teachings and papal authority over other religions and governments. If you don’t like Santorum being called a papist, tell him to stop acting like one. For fucks sake…

It doesn’t matter whether Santorum speaks for Catholics. I didn’t say he does. What I said was that he is trying to impose Catholic morality and law onto non-Catholics in the civil governmental sphere. He is a hateful little omniphobe.

“Papist” was directed not at you, or at Catholics in general, but at Santorum. If the former Senator would like to take it up with me, he’s more than welcome to do so. You’re just being hypersensitive because you’re Catholic and enjoy feeling victimized by words not directed to you. I didn’t call you a Papist or anyone else. Just Rick. Because that’s what he is – someone who wants to supplant civil law with Vatican law.

The contraception mandate is a civil law of general applicability. It is no more violative of Catholics’ right to practice their religion than anti-marijuana statutes are violative of Rastafarians’ right to practice theirs.

Again, more twisted logic from you. So, if you direct a derogatory term at a for Catholics at a public figure, it shouldn’t be offensive to pirvate Catholics? Would you support he same rationale for someone using the n-word or a slur for Muslims or Jews?

I can’t control what you’re offended by. Let me know when Catholicism is something you cannot change, like race. And if a Muslim or Jewish person was interested in imposing Sharia or the Torah on civil American society, I’d criticize them just as harshly. Hope that helps!

Chris, please share with me the source for your definition for “Papist” where it is NOT an anti-Catholic slur. Because this is what wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papist) says:

“Papist is a (usually disparaging) term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents.”

Quit deflecting and trying to cover for the use of derogatory terms by making it about Santorum.

Alan, are you saying that you would use antisemitic slurs to refer to orthodox Jews who feel civil society should reflect their religious principles? I think we both know you would never do such a thing. Yet you feel it’s perfectly okay to do the same thing to Catholics. This is pretty obviously a double standard where you want to use established hateful terms for Catholics (“Papist” is almost 500 years old) which you would never do to any other type of group. You can deny it all you want but the only people who would agree with you would be those who share your hatred for the Church and its unchanging teachings. Does Art Voice and the Clarence Democratic Party share this animosity towards faithful Catholics?

1. I didn’t call you anything, nor did I call Catholics anything. I called Rick Santorum something.
2. You determine whether you’re offended by something based on a Wikipedia entry?
3. The church’s teachings are “unchanging” only if you have absolutely no knowledge of, or are ignorant of, history.
4. Being “Semitic” is an ethnicity, and one cannot choose whether one is or is not Semitic.
5. Your efforts to victimize yourself are admirable.
6. I’m not a member of the Clarence Democratic Committee, so I invite you to ask them whatever you want. I don’t care.
7. I don’t speak for Artvoice, so you’ll have to ask them.
8. Santorum is a papist. To him, the Pope > the President. He believes that Catholic dogma supersedes the law and constitution, and wants to impose Vatican law on me and my family, and I reject that. (By contrast, John F. Kennedy was decidedly NOT a papist).
9. Rick Santorum is a despicable homophobe.
10. Artvoice is one word.
11. I think, e.g., the people who run Kiryas Joel are horrible Jewish Taliban who disrespect the Constitution and civil rights. They are Santorum’s wet dream. Maybe I’ll just call Santorum the Catholic Taliban. He can be Mullah Omar, and you can be Rabbani! Yay!

“Papist is a (usually disparaging) term or an anti-Catholic slur, referring to the Roman Catholic Church, its teachings, practices, or adherents.”

Funny how you omitted the rest of that paragraph as it does not support your argument.

The term was coined during the English Reformation to denote a person whose loyalties were to the Pope, rather than to the Church of England. Over time, however, the term came to mean one who supported Papal authority over all Christians; it thus entered widespread use, especially among Anglicans and Presbyterians.[citation needed] The word, dating from 1534, derives (through Middle French) from Latin papa, meaning “Pope”.

By definition of the great wikipedia, Santorum is a papist. It’s not a slur, it’s a fact. Another fact? You’re a weird dude. Alan may not be anti-Catholic, but I am. Would you like to know why? I kinda have sympathy for the tens of thousands of children who were raped by Priests. I’m also still pretty pissed off that for decades, the catholic church leadership hid these abuses and even allowed Cardinal Law to preside over Pope John Paul II’s funeral. So, take your indignation and shove it. Whomever is your employer should issue an apology for you.

Your other weak argument is borderline comical. “Some Catholics call themselves that so it’s okay if I do it in a hate-filled manner!” Isn’t that the excuse some white people use to say the n-word? This is just getting sad, Alan. I expected better of you.

So if someone calls Obama the n-word, they can just say “I was just talking about Obama!” Your defense of your usage of anti-Catholic slurs is at the 5th grade level, Alan. I thought you’d just admit you were wrong but it appears that you’re set on digging a deeper hole.

Just apologize for using such hate-filled rhetoric and swear never to use it again. I’ll accept your apology and that can be the end of it. There is a way to disagree with the Church without lowering yourself to anti-Catholic slurs.

The only slur I see is that a criminal organization, which actively protected child rapists for decades in this country, and its political mouthpieces are given any deference or respect. The organization, mind you…not its adherents, because, you know…”hate the sin, love the sinner” and such.

I’ll be sure next time to remember how petulantly hypersensitive & eager to be an oppressed minority the Ostrowskiites are next time they – usually anonymously – call me a fat totalitarian Marxist socialist – slurs as serious to me as papist is to you.

Like I said, no one called you a Papist. No one called all Catholics papist. So, I don’t owe you any apology since you had nothing to do with it until you chose to. And for someone who considers himself a libertarian, you sure have an itchy finger to ban speech.

“Santorum (PA-Papist)” is a joke that suggests Santorum isn’t a Republican but the member of a party that follows the law of the Pope. Papist, as someone might be called a Marxist or a Maoist. I wasn’t even commenting on his faith, but on his politics. He can believe whatever he wants, and I don’t care about which man in the sky anyone chooses to pray to. Of course, you know this but are playing dumb about it.

To equate being a Caucasian member of one of the world’s oldest and largest faiths to being a Black American or some other traditionally oppressed minority is downright hilarious. Let me know when Hitler murders 6MM Catholics or Catholics are enslaved then oppressed as 2nd class citizens for hundreds of years. I’m sure a truly oppressed minority would love to disabuse you of that notion. I didn’t criticize or denigrate your faith – just the politics of one of its adherents, but you’re so eager to portray yourself as a victim, you refuse to acknowledge that, preferring a tantrum instead.

I’m a Christian fascist? Wow. You learn something new every day. For you to call me a fascist, you must have some example of me trying to use the government to force my views on others. Please produce that. It’s odd because, from where I’m standing, it’s the secular humanists who are the ones trying to use the state to force Catholics to accept their agenda.

99.9% of your response to using a known anti-Catholic slur have been completely unrelated to the use of the slur. You refuse to accept any responsibility for using a derogatory term for Catholics. Don’t be surprised when people react unfavorably to this.

And you earlier said I was “ignorant of history,” yet you seem to be completely unaware of any state persecution of Catholics which is something that has occurred repeatedly throughout history including in this nation. Did you know there was a time when there were penal laws relating to Catholics and they were not allowed to enter certain professions because of fears they were “papists?” And did you know that NYS Governor Al Smith and Democratic Presidential Candidate was slandered as a “papist” when he ran for the Presidency? So you can unrepentantly sputter all you want to try to excuse why you use derogatory terms for Catholics but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re spreading anti-Catholic bigotry on this blog.

Tell you what: you keep protecting the “reputation” of the folks who gave the world the Inquisition, the rat line, and a massive scandal involving predators and pedophiles, and I’ll keep on trying to prevent people like Rick Santorum, who is sickened by the Establishment Clause, from resurrecting their political careers to impose Catholic dogma on civil society.

And in the meantime you can also wax nostalgic to fringe fascistic organizations about your support for black-letter unconstitutional state nullification of, e.g., anti-segregation laws and statutes.

btw if you did indeed crawl out of the Ostrowski cesspool then no sympathy for you. Teabaggers are the scourge of our country and actively work to impede our progress simply because the President is African-American.

Your afterlife will be spent in the same subterranean cell that now houses Joe McCarthy and Andrew Breitbart.

Alan uses an anti-Catholic slur and refuses to apologize and then spins in circles trying to make it about anything but him using anti-Catholic slurs in the first place. This is certainly one of your lowest points in blogging.

Oh, I don’t “toss around” anything. I know that I’m not concerned about insulting the likes of you.

Tell us more about how, e.g., Alabama should have the right to annul the Civil Rights Act, right after you explain to me all about the racist nonsense your candidate, Ron Paul, published under his name with help from the rest of the reactionary, opportunist “paleolibertarian” cadres.

“Santorum no more speaks for Catholics than Nancy Pelosi. He is as out of step with Church teaching on war as Pelosi is with Church teachings on the sanctity of life. But that’s besides the point, Alan. You know full well that “papist” is a derogatory term for Catholics. If some right-leaning politician or blogger used a similar derogatory term to refer to Muslims or Jews, you’d be first in line calling for his expulsion from polite society.”

That is what hypocrites do. Our local political parties are loaded with them….

@Patrick Krey
I was raised a Catholic and have many Catholic friends and never one have I heard them speak or act in the manner in which you do on this blog. You sound more like a cultist than a Catholic. And this is the second round we, the readers have had to deal with your rants. And in both topics re Catholisism, you ignore and completely fail to respond to: The Chuirch actively participating in the rape and cover-up of thousands of young boys over the course of many decades. Why is that Patrick? Cat got your tongue? Answer the Question or please go away.

@patrick
Does your warm up contain an answer to the question patrick???
Going to ever acknowlege the rape of little boys by the church you defend ad nauseum? You want an apology for what???? Oh yeah. papist not rapist.
You are beyond a hypocrite.

A gentleman would have said “I’m sorry for using a slur for Catholics. I used it without fully comprehending what the term meant. I will refrain from using anti-Catholic derogatory terms in the future and will remove it from this blog post. I can disagree with Catholics and harshly criticize Santorum without using the type of language I normally condemn.”

But Alan is in his keyboard-warrior persona mode and refuses to admit that he’s human and makes mistakes. I guess we’ll see what comes of this.

I don’t take direction from right wing fringe zealots. Especially petulant whiny ones.

You see, Patrick, you’re affiliated with a rogue’s gallery of extremist people and websites. I’d no sooner apologize to you for anything than I would to Alex Jones himself. John Birch Society, and you’re lecturing ME?! You’ve got a lot of fucking gall to even gently criticize what I’ve written, given the reactionary paranoiac crap you promote.

Btw, “gentleman”, if you had even once told your old friends at Ostrowski’s site that calling me a fat communist was out of line, I may have considered being courteous at least to you. You never did, so you get nothing.

I found absolutely nothing to support your claim that “papist” is the same as “nigger”. Nothing at all. Anywhere. You are subjectively offended. I don’t really care because you had nothing to do with it.

If some Catholic I respect tells me it was out of line, I’ll consider apologizing. Not a moment before. I don’t respect Birchers.

Alan’s response to using an anti-Catholic slur has been to defame me and others devoted to restraints on government power and the protection of individual liberty as a “fascist” in order to distract from his original use of the derogatory term “papist.” I am extremely proud of my professional writings which, unlike Alan, do not include obscenity laced tirades brimming with hatred. That is besides the point of course which is what Alan wants. He wants to distract people from his promotion of anti-Catholic bigotry on the Artvoice blog.

Alan Bedenko is a local blogger who routinely works closely with the Clarence Democratic Party. He was instrumental in the campaign this past fall to remove Joe Weiss from the Clarence Town Board where copies of one of Mr. Bedenko’s anti-Weiss blog posts were delivered to the homes of voters in Clarence. Mr. Bedenko also previously ran as a Democratic candidate for the Erie County Legislature. Mr. Bedenko currently blogs regulary for Artvoice and has harshly criticized the Catholic Church and even used the derogatory anti-Catholic term “papist” on the Artvoice’s online blog. The word “papist” is an established, nearly 500-year-old anti-Catholic slur that is used to disparage and demean faithful Catholics. Critics of the Church should be able to disagree with Church teaching without lowering themselves to the level of using anti-Catholic slurs.

The hypocrisy of Mr. Bedenko’s usage of such hate-filled language is that he has long been a proponent of denouncing “hate-speech” and was intimately involved in publicizing Carl Paladino’s emails which contained slurs among other controversial content. While Catholics supports the God-given right to free speech, we also recognize the rights of individual Catholics to react to such language and to boycott organizations as well as their sponsors who promote anti-Catholic bigotry .

Both the Clarence Democratic Party and Artvoice should denounce Mr. Bedenko’s hurtful language and issue an apology to the Catholic faithful who were demeaned. If such actions are not taken, Catholics will have to assume that such bigoted and hateful views are not only tolerated by those organizations but also shared.

Well now that we know papist is not a slur and needs no apology, Patrick, how about the other half of my question Papist/Rapist. Does the latter not require an apology? Oh wait, it wasn’t a slur, it was a violent act perpetrated upon defenseless children and covered up by papists for years. Guess no apology needed there.

Forget it Patrick the leftist in this page will hate us, despite the homosexaul (thats right I said)child rapist scandals. These same people are at the gay shame (pride) parades all around the country cheering the crowds of sodomites that proudly march by, including their NAMBLA contigents. They could careless for the child rape victims, they support a culture which increasingly sexualize children from music to movies and call it art. (ie Hollywood, the music industry) Lets just do our best to ignore each other, because if we dont drums beat of civil war will soon be upon us

You performed an admirable and honorable public service by calling out and speaking truth to bigotry and willful ignorance. The problem with such bigoted zealots is they are so consumed with destructive hate and corrupting pride that their eyes shut and ears close to efforts to enlighten them and their hurtful behaviors. Robert Royal, in his excellent book, The Catholic Martyrs of the Twentieth Century: A Comprehensive World History, details that such bigotry and hate goes beyond mere words but resulted in the death of millions. Equally, authors Philip Jenkins and Mark Stephen Massa demonstrate in their scholarly books, the prejudice of Anti-Catholicism remains a persistent scourge on the American body politic. Not all of its practitioners wear white sheets and cower behind hooded masks. They show their true color of cowardice (urine-stained yellow) on blogs, anonymous emails, and message boards hidden behind the clouded anonymity of the Internet.

Priests have molested boys in the twentieth century. But more secular public school teachers have molested kids than the Catholic clergy. And don’t get me started with Child Protective Services. The god of the State is more insidious than you will ever admit, and it’ll only get worse. And, I promise you, by the time folks start discussing the “reasonable alternative” of just plain-old killin’ fresh-born babies, you’ll defend evil like that as well.

But sporting facts against anyone here is like fighting a hydra. Ya’ll will declare that the sky is purple, cars on the road weigh five pounds, and your computers spontaneously appeared one day, if it meant that you could reject the God who died for you.

I blame your idiocy on the invention of the birth control pill, women voters, and Nietzche.

L.H. & Canisius
Please provide a link to where you got the statistics you are quoting re homosexual child rapist scandals and the molestation of children by teachers being greater in numbers than the THOUSANDS of children raped and sodomized by Catholic priests.

H.L. even if presented you would not care, your god is the State, and the State can do no wrong. Homosexuals have infested the Catholic clergy for the past 50 years, those precious sodomites that you leftist defend to the death. Tell me H.L. why do we see those NAMBLA scumbags apart of your gay shame parades every fucking year, then you try to tell me there is no connection between homosexuality and child molestation. Also why are the biggest supporters of lowering the age of consent gay men. Tell me HL were eager to know

While it is true that there have been over 300 or more cases of sexual abuse in Catholic institutions from 1968 through 1980, a FEDERAL REPORT ordered by Congress and chartered by the U.S. Department of Education has estimated that 422,000 California public school students would be victims of sexual misconduct by educators BEFORE GRADUATION.

Seems like the public school system has a bit of a glut in the molestation department.

Besides being boring and unoriginal, liberals truly are the dumbest people on the planet.
They toss around talking points like “the Inquistion” and I’ll bet they’ve never read a history book about it. Forgetting the fact that the first Inquisitor was Moses and he ordered more people to death than Torquemada ever did. I dare you to go on a “Jew-bashing” tirade.

They defend abominations like ephebophilia from infiltrating gay priests, (their brothers in arms) and blame the Church when it’s priests expressing liberal mindsets.

The Church should kick the priests out of the Church, expose them as homosexuals and burn them at the stake in St. Peter’s square. The liberals will be all over the place crying foul and “gay rights.” Stupid hypocrites.

The liberals don’t care about molested children and teens, they are convenient bats that they abuse one more time in order to bash the Church. Because essentially it comes down to this: liberals just want to screw whatever animal, vegetable or mineral they want to, and that doesn’t change when they sneak through a Catholic ordination. It just means that the liberal hatred of the Church is worth throwing a few liberal-minded child molesting priests overboard for the irrepressible opportunity to trash the Church.

There’s nothing more evil than a slushy minded, rutting animal that is a liberal.

Sorry, no bitch slapping here Canisius and LH. Dragging out Jon Benet Ramsey as your proof? A CBS link that cites no REAL stats, just those “most likely” to be abused. not the number actually abused, and again, nowhere near the Church’s documented abuse of, and again I repeat, documented abuse of grown men raping little boys. Hundreds if not thousands of LITTLE boys.And Canisius, where are your stats on homosexual rape scandals?.
Justify clergy rape in the name of the Lord almighty please.Try as your bigoted small minds will allow, to justify it. Please again try, we are eagee to know. Oh and Canisius, where are the links to homosexual rape scandals re children.
And yes L.H. , your links offer no substance so take your bitch slapping to a website that will appreciate it.And there are many, Also, based on your reading selections, seems to me you might be considering some dalliances of your own N’est pas?

H.L. your liberal response is what I expected, that is why I know civil war is coming. What do think H.L. after you and your crowd finish burning our churches, gonna try and round us up like the the good bolsheviks you are

@Canisius
Ever consider psychiatric care? But then just because you’re paranoid doesn’t really mean everyone is out to get you now does it. I’ll now let Patrick, L.H. and Canisius continue their little love fest here. I for one am going to round up my liberal friends to see what havoc we can muster ie burning churches or finding liberal gay men we can convince to join the priesthood so they can then rape little boys. Have a great day!

Why is it that you people don’t understand the distinction between being a homosexual and being a pedophile? Gay people don’t molest children, pedophiles do. Just as emotionally healthy heterosexual fathers do not have sex with their daughters, gay people do not have sex with children just because they are of the sex they are naturally attracted to. They are not the same, and I find it abhorrent that there are people who are so hopped up on this right-wing-rhetoric that they do not know the difference.

Wood chippers and streets awash with the blood of people who are different from yourself is pretty far flung from the message of compassion and peace that I learned in Sunday school. Talk about ‘hate speech’… #justsaying

Bashing Roman Catholics is the favorite pass time of the left. I am very comfortable in my church with God. I may not be as “informed” as the snooty liberals, but I stil have the inner peace andinsight that I learned form the nuns, brothers & priests that guided me. I am the product of a Catholic education, from kindergarten through undergraduate school. (I slipped up & got my masters from a secular university.)

A press release from some Christo-Fascists, with accompanying robo-call in Ohio:

“Hi, my name is Brian Camenker; I’m a Jew from Massachusetts.

“And, this is Darcy Brandon; I’m a Christian from California. If you believe as we do that marriage and sexuality should only be between a man and a woman, please help us stop Mitt Romney.

“As Governor, Romney signed ‘Gay Youth Pride Day’ proclamations, promoted homosexuality in our elementary schools, and unconstitutionally ordered state officals to make Massachusetts America’s first same-sex marriage state. Romney supports open homosexuality in the military, the appointment of homosexual judges, and the ENDA law, making it illegal to fire a man who wears a dress and high heels to work, even if he’s your kid’s teacher. When you vote tomorrow, please vote for social sanity and Rick Santorum, NOT for homosexuality and Mitt Romney.

“Rick Santorum is the ONLY candidate who can be trusted to uphold traditional marriage, a straight military, and the rights of American children to have both a mother and a father. This message paid for by Jews and Christians Together.org and not authorized by any candidate. To get the facts before you vote, visit Jews and Christians Together.org.”

That website, urging Ohio voters to “get the shocking facts on Mitt Romney,” links to a page called “The Romney Files”. That page, identical to email content blasted to over a million Ohio residents on Sunday, documents Romney’s progressive record on gay issues, a record that may be problematic for the former Massachusetts governor in more conservative Super Tuesday states like Ohio, Georgia and Tennessee. “The Romney Files”, assembled by the Boston-based group Mass Resistance, show a gubernatorial proclamation Romney signed declaring “Gay Youth Pride Week”; a video comparison of RomneyCare to ObamaCare, two similar approaches to socialized medicine; a Planned Parenthood questionnaire Romney signed in favor of publicly-subsidized abortion, abortion drugs and contraceptives; and a claim that “Romney’s wife Ann personally donated to Planned Parenthood!” That page links to a more in-depth “Mitt Romney Report” full of details that trouble GOP conservatives trying to select their presidential nominee.

Brian Camenker, president of Mass Resistance and compiler of much of that Romney research and one of the robo-call voices said, “Mitt Romney would be the most liberal Republican ever nominated for the Presidency. Romney is so far left, he spoke against the right of the Boy Scouts to screen-out homosexuals. Mitt Romney proved during the January 8 Meet the Press debate that he’s still as far left on the gay agenda as always. He proudly announced, ‘a member of my cabinet was gay. I appointed people to the bench regardless of their sexual orientation.’ Asked when he last stood up and spoke out for increasing gay rights, Romney said ‘Right now.'”

Dr. Gary Cass, president of DefendChristians.org and a member of Jews & Christians Together.org said, “We believe Rick Santorum is the only viable alternative to Romney. All Jews and Christians are aware that the Bible, from the Jewish Books of Moses to the Christian Gospels to the epistles of Saint Paul, commands God’s faithful to love the sinner but hate the sin, and indeed to recognize homosexuality as sin. Romney, on the other hand, endorses homosexuality as a good choice for young people.”

Cass said that he supports Santorum, the former Pennsylvania Senator, because last year Santorum signed The Marriage Vow, a political pledge document from Iowa also embraced by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) last year. That eventually earned Santorum a narrow victory in Iowa and the endorsement of conservative radio personality Dr. James Dobson and other evangelicals. Santorum, said Cass, “courageously put his name to some very bold, very Judeo-Christian, and extremely politically-incorrect statements about marriage and sexuality.” Santorum’s pro-marriage vow:

greater financial stability, and that children raised by a mother and a father together experience better learning, less

addiction, less legal trouble, and less extramarital pregnancy;”

– Rejects “anti-­scientific bias which holds, in complete absence of empirical proof, that non-­heterosexual inclinations are genetically determined, irresistible and akin to innate traits like race, gender and eye color;”

– Rejects “anti-­scientific bias which holds, against all empirical evidence, that homosexual behavior in particular, and sexual promiscuity in general, optimizes individual or public health;”

– Contains a pledge of “Personal fidelity to my spouse” and “Respect for the marital bonds of others” which Gingrich, Cain, Romney and Ron Paul declined to sign, but which Bachmann and Perry joined Santorum in signing.

Cass, an ordained Presbyterian minister, said, “Rick Santorum signed the Iowa vow last summer while Romney was calling for more gay hiring.” Another link at Jews & Christians Together.org connects to a voter guide from Family Research Council that shows Romney in support of ENDA, the proposed federal Employment Non-Discrimination Act “that adds sexual orientation as a protected class.” Camenker, the Jewish Romney opponent from Massachusetts, said ENDA “would forbid the firing of transvestite elementary school teachers, open bisexuals, and other bad examples to America’s young people.”

I reject your use of the term ‘snooty’ as derogatory and you now must apologize to every human being or animal who might ever have been considered as snooty (that one’s for you, owls!). You are clearly different than myself and so, through the use of mathematical proofs, I have determined it has been mandated by the almighty powers that your blood must freely flow in the streets for your crimes against my ego and ideology. Oh wait, I forgot that I’m a rational human being and not a loony little asshat. Never mind.

@l.h.
Who are you to promise me anything. I don’t despise “folks” who worship God at all. In fact, I have proudly modeled my life after the kind and beautiful teachings of Jesus Christ. Certainly not the vitriol put forth here in the name of the Catholic Church or any church for that matter. Thanks@kathleen for pointing out that Jesus was a liberal. Maybe some of these folks here should go back to basics and read about His life and teachings again.

How about I hold you to a similar standard that you’ve held to me. Are you capable of providing any kind of numbers or factual sources that show that there’ve been thousands upon thousands of molestation cases of priests upon children? Something that proves there’ve been “THOUSANDS of children raped and sodomized by Catholic priests?”

Nice try @gerard. Pontius Pilate A liberal? I think not but below you can learly see
Why is Jesus a Liberal?

Webster’s dictionary defines a Liberal as one who is open
minded, not strict in the observance of orthodox, traditional
or established forms or ways. Jesus was a pluralist Liberal
who taught that one need not conform to strict and orthodox
views of God, religion, and life. He rejected greed, violence,
the glorification of power, the amassing of wealth without
social balance, and the personal judging of others, their
lifestyles and beliefs.

Over and over again, He taught us to believe in and live a
spiritual and ethical life based in our essential, inherent
goodness. What Jesus promoted was succinct set of
spiritual principals and a way of life based upon the of love,
compassion, tolerance, and a strong belief in the importance
in giving and of generosity to those in need.

The common sense understanding of His lessons as philosophically and
politically Liberal is founded upon Jesus’ own words (see
quotes below), modern interpretations of Liberation Theology,
and in the positive, loving and compassionate application of
His teachings – from the many early Saints to Mother
Theresa and Liberation Theology.

Certainly, Jesus brought a radically Liberal theology to the
Orthodox believers of his time. Jesus IS a Liberal even today
because now more than ever, His principals align with the
very core of Liberal Beliefs.
Biblical Quotes Supporting the Belief that Jesus Is A Liberal

Peacemaking, not War Making: Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. [Matthew 5:9] Resist
not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. [Matthew 5:39] I say unto you, Love your
enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despite-fully use you, and persecute
you; [Matthew 5:44]

The Death Penalty: Thou shalt not kill [Matthew 5:21]

Crime and Punishment: If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to cast a stone at her. [John 8:7] Do not judge, lest
you too be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged and with the measure you use, it will be measured to
you. [Matthew 7:1 & 2.]

Justice: Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled. [Matthew 5:6] Blessed are the
merciful: for they shall obtain mercy [Matthew 5:7] But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your
trespasses. [Matthew 6:15]

Corporate Greed and the Religion of Wealth: In the temple courts [Jesus] found men selling cattle, sheep and doves and other
sitting at tables exchanging money. So he made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple area, both sheep and cattle;
he scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. [John 2:14 & 15.] Watch out! Be on your guard against
all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. [Luke 12.15.] Truly, I say unto you, it will
be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. [Matthew 19:23] You cannot serve both God and Money. [Matthew 6:24.]

Paying Taxes & Separation of Church & State: Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the
things that are God’s. [Matthew 22:21]

Community: Love your neighbor as yourself. .[Matthew 22:39] So in everything, do to others as you would have them do to you.
[Matthew 7:12.] If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven.
[Matthew 19:21]

Equality & Social Programs: But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed,
because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just. [Luke 14:13 &14.]

Public Prayer & Displays of Faith: And when thou pray, thou shall not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in
the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
But thou, when thou pray, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret…
[Matthew 6:6 & 7]

Strict Enforcement of Religious Laws: If any of you has a son or a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take
hold of it and lift it out? [Matthew 12:11] The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. [Mark 2:27.]

Individuality & Personal Spiritual Experience: Ye are the light of the world.

Now, this is the Jesus I modeled my life after. @ gerard, not the one you espouse. Now I’m leaving this post but I’m sure you will have plenty to continue with. Hope you are able to figure out a way to change the word of god into your own meaning and to fit your own agenda.

I requested him to remove it and apologize via the comment section but instead he personally chose to attack me. I thought Artvoice was opposed to the usage of “hate speech.” Does Artvoice and its advertisers condone the use of derogatory terms for Catholics?

Do Artvoice and its advertisers condone. Not “does”. Sheesh.

Anyhow, I’m sure they don’t condone the use of hate speech or slurs. Good thing I haven’t used any!

Just occurred to me that you can replace all the references by “Canisius”, “Gerard” and “L.H.” to “Jesus” with “Allah” and not really the change the meaning of what any of them are saying.

I hope AV is recording the IP addresses of these guys. The next time a local abortion doctor gets his head blown off in his kitchen, the FBI may be interested in knowing where to find the far-right Catholics around here.

Philip Jenkins once wrote that anti-Catholic bigotry is the last acceptable bigotry. And this post and thread is probably the best evidence of this truth.

Haters gotta hate.

The contraceptive issue in the news recently is entirely about whether a Catholic (or other Christian or Jew) has not only the right to believe, but whether or not the government can force them to act as if they don’t believe once they leave the church building. “Free exercise” of religion is in danger of becoming a dead letter, just like the 10th amendment.

The contraception issue is a manufactured one. We’re debating things that were settled 50 years ago, because the Republicans have nothing else to go on except social issues anymore.

With that said, I’m not bigoted towards Catholics – I’m as ambivalent towards that sect as I am about any other sect. I just don’t care. When, however, a Rick Santorum runs a presidential race essentially seeking to impose his religious views on Americans as a whole, I have a problem with that. A big problem with that.

You’ll also note that I differentiate between Santorum, whom I described as a member of a fictitious “Papist Party” and Catholics in general. That’s why Krey’s desperation to find insult where not exists is so downright hilarious.

Thanks, Alan. I’ll make sure I use “do” when I contact Artvoice’s advertisers. “Do Artvoice’s advertisers condone the use of anti-Catholic slurs?” Another question is “should Catholics support such businesses?”

I just looked over the first several comments from Krey to me, and my responses to him. To see how “hateful” and vitriolic I may have been.

It would seem to me, in connection with that review, that I tried – seriously and humorously – to address each and every one of Krey’s concerns, point by point. His eager glee at getting to be a victim, however, trumped any rational or objective discussion of what I wrote. (Note my use of the word “Papist” here, yet not a peep out of tragically hyperoffended professional victim Krey).

This is why, dear reader, it is impossible and pointless to argue with a zealot.

By the way, Georgetown University provides contraceptives to it’s employees through their health insurance plan.All employees, even the Catholic ones. They just won’t provide to the student through s campus health plan they, the students, are required purchase and pay for in full. So see Patrick you and your merry band of marauding zealots are wrong. It has nothing to do with religious freedom. The catholics are providing and the catholics are accepting.At Georgetown and numerous catholic institutions all across the land. Have been for some time now. And they did it without a mandate. Now I suppose you will now light your hair on fire.
Plus I was pretty sure Chris Smith debunked your papist argument by proving you WRONG.

Actually, Alan, I did see the prior use of the word “Papist” and while it was offensive then, it was a link to a site with the same name so I gave you a free pass. No more free passes for you on this, Alan.

Your reasons why Catholics shouldn’t be offended at the use of the word “Papist” do not hold water and I have already refuted them in this awful rage-filled thread.

First, you claim that it’s not that bad of a word contrary to the actual origin of the word. This is the word that KKK members use to refer to Catholics and was included in anti-Catholic legislation used to treat Catholics as second class citizens. It is a word created by Protestant enemies of the Church to insult and demean the Church. Just because you are ignorant of this does not make the word any less offensive.

Second, you claim that it was only directed at Santorum so I shouldn’t be offended. Yet, if someone called Obama the n-word and used that as his defense, you would (rightfully so) rake him over the coals. In response to this comparison, you defer back to “the word’s not that bad.” You are wrong on both counts, Alan.

I did hear back from Geoff but it was after you posted my email to him in the comment section and I had already replied back that I would go straight to the advertisers making it appear like I didn’t give him a chance to respond.

I just want an opportunity to talk over-the-phone with Geoff, and you as well if you are interested, to explain why this is extremely demeaning and offensive to not just me but a lot of Catholics. All I need is a few minutes to make my case.

You can attack me personally, Alan, but it will not get me to back down or lower myself to your level. I will not stop until there is a retraction of the original slur and a formal apology on this blog.

Trust me, Alan, I am not enjoying this. I do not like “fighting,” (if that is what you would call this online nonsense) especially with someone who lives in the same town as me and has mutual friends but I also cannot just let hateful words like “Papist” be used without standing up to the anti-Catholic double standard.

This is the last time I’m going to respond to attention-troll Patrick Krey. Get your jollies in, folks, because I’m going to shut down comments on this post at precisely 5pm today.

Actually, Alan, I did see the prior use of the word “Papist” and while it was offensive then, it was a link to a site with the same name so I gave you a free pass. No more free passes for you on this, Alan.

What authority do you purport to have over me to give me a “free pass”. It’s evidence that you’re full of shit and just trying to glom attention, because if it was so horrific a slur, you’d have said something then. To say your shock/horror is disingenuous is a massive understatement.

Your reasons why Catholics shouldn’t be offended at the use of the word “Papist” do not hold water and I have already refuted them in this awful rage-filled thread.

I don’t really care what Catholics are or are not offended by, any more than Catholics care what I am or am not offended by. Also, most of the rage has been directed at me, by you. If you’d bother to go back and look at the thread, it was not until you started lobbing threats at me that I responded angrily. You’re a cheap, petty attention-seeker, and were never interested in discussing this. You instantly accused me of using an “anti-Catholic slur”, something I didn’t intend it to be. It means adherent of the Pope, and that’s what Santorum admittedly is. I explained why I used it to criticize him, and you just insisted on playing victim. You say you’re saddened, but all I get out of this is glee.

First, you claim that it’s not that bad of a word contrary to the actual origin of the word. This is the word that KKK members use to refer to Catholics and was included in anti-Catholic legislation used to treat Catholics as second class citizens. It is a word created by Protestant enemies of the Church to insult and demean the Church. Just because you are ignorant of this does not make the word any less offensive.

Well, I’m not in the Klan, and I’m not a Protestant. I used the word to demean Santorum and the fact that he wants to break down the separation of church and state, his church being the Catholic church. I can explain it to you 100 more times if you’d like, but you wouldn’t listen.

Second, you claim that it was only directed at Santorum so I shouldn’t be offended. Yet, if someone called Obama the n-word and used that as his defense, you would (rightfully so) rake him over the coals. In response to this comparison, you defer back to “the word’s not that bad.” You are wrong on both counts, Alan.

Well, being Black is something quite different from being Catholic. You can choose to be Catholic. You cannot choose to be Black. Weren’t you the one who insulted me a few weeks ago thusly: “Comparing opposition to birth control to racism might be one of your weakest arguments ever. And that’s saying a lot considering your record.” Nice try, though.

I did hear back from Geoff but it was after you posted my email to him in the comment section and I had already replied back that I would go straight to the advertisers making it appear like I didn’t give him a chance to respond.

I just want an opportunity to talk over-the-phone with Geoff, and you as well if you are interested, to explain why this is extremely demeaning and offensive to not just me but a lot of Catholics. All I need is a few minutes to make my case.

IIRC, in his email, in which Geoff very politely told you to piss off, he specifically wrote that he wasn’t going to communicate with you about this any more. Why you think I would want to meet you in person or speak with you is beyond me. It’s frankly creepy. Remember – you insinuated yourself into this conversation. I want nothing whatsoever to do with you.

You can attack me personally, Alan, but it will not get me to back down or lower myself to your level. I will not stop until there is a retraction of the original slur and a formal apology on this blog.

Yes, let’s waltz gaily into la-la land where you haven’t insulted me or attacked me personally.

Trust me, Alan, I am not enjoying this. I do not like “fighting,” (if that is what you would call this online nonsense) especially with someone who lives in the same town as me and has mutual friends but I also cannot just let hateful words like “Papist” be used without standing up to the anti-Catholic double standard.

Oh, I think you’re enjoying this quite a lot. Under normal circumstances, I’d have banned you from leaving further comments the moment you began threatening me – frankly, I’d have done it the moment you started creepily requesting a meeting with me. I didn’t do so because you might as well have your say, up to a point. As I noted earlier, get all your civil war-agitating buddies and zealous language police out on the thread before 5pm, because that’s when I shut this discussion down. I will also not permit any other posts that have nothing to do with this issue to veer off-topic to satisfy your clingy need for attention.

And thank you for the rank example of why religion has absolutely no place in or around politics or governing.

OMG is this man sane? I’m Catholic, have been all my life and the word means nothing compared to the N word. Where are you getting this information Patrick.
I’ve never in my entire Catholic life met anyone that cared about this word. Get a life Patrick. And stop bringing your crazy paranoia here. Enough is enough.

I think that was the first post where Patrick didn’t rant like a lunatic and make overt threats. Hes getting smarter in his responses ,but that doesn’t change that his argument is baseless because he is a zealot who is too proud to admit that he misunderstood the context in which papist was being used. Is pride not still a deadly sin?

Bottom line: Alan didn’t do anything wrong. You misunderstood the definition and context of the word and are just making a huge deal out of pride, likely because you frequently feel inadequate elsewhere in your life. I get it, you want to be in control! But something you and Rick Santorum apparently don’t understand is that part of being an American is respecting that just because you have different beliefs than someone else doesn’t give you a right to censor them or ‘tell the teacher’ to force an apology out of them. You, Patrick, are acting like the kind of papist that DOES have a stigma attached, and I for one would much rather my president be a respectful pro-pap-smearist than papist. #womensreproductiverightsFTW

You’ll also note that I differentiate between Santorum, whom I described as a member of a fictitious “Papist Party” and Catholics in general.

Bedenko just admitted to the pejorative connotation of the word “papist.” You notice he associates the word with Santorum and not with Catholics in general. He has made quite clear his opinion of Santorum and it is not positive! If he had such benign intentions, he would have written something like “whom I described as a member of a fictitious ‘Papist Party’ and papists in general.” Thus, making the differentiation between the papists of the party and papists in general. No, he knew what he was writing and why.

Papist is Not a slur or slander. In later times it is defined as to it’s meaning…Papa..Isn’t that what the pope is? Father to the flock in human place of the Father Almighty.
And KKK, where did that come from??You are relating the murder and torture and discrimination of African Americans in this country to the word Papa. You, Patrick are an embarassment to the Catholic religion and the human race in general.

Oh and by the way Canisius, have you checked into the psychiatric facilities in and a around the Buffalo area? And your death threats regarding gays have been noted by those who are indeed aware of those who make threats about a class of people whose civil rights are protected.

Alan Bedenko offers my blogging name as evidence that the term ‘papist’ is not disparaging. Alan says he didn’t intend an anti-Catholic slur when he called Santorum a papist, and he should know what he did, or didn’t, intend. However, I chose the term precisely because I grew up Protestant, and heard it used extensively (and solely) as a slur. I claimed it back – adding ‘joyful’ to make my intentions clear – just as other ethnic, religious, and social groups have claimed back the terms used to insult them. I did it deliberately to be provocative when I commented on non-Catholic blogs. And I’ve found it works well.

(I also liked the literal meaning – a person who lives a life full of joy and who is an adherent of the pope.)

So when Alan says: ‘this person doesn’t think it’s disparaging’, he’s making a guess at what I intended. And he’s wrong. If I didn’t think ‘papist’ was disparaging, I’d be calling myself something else.

“H.L. nothing would please me more than you trying to do it. The street will be awash in liberal blood and gays thrown into wood chippers.”

– Canisius

Talk like this really does not help, and merely provides evidence that not everyone can make a perfect case.

Canisius can speak for himself.

I am here, due to the large volume of Catholic bashing I witnessed at the beginning of this blog entry’s blog section. I’ve decided to strike at the particular accusation of the Church being just a big ol’ child molester theme park. I’ve demonstrated that public schools are much worse, and argue that most institutions have corruption. I’ve provided links, statistics, and asked H.L. to provide his own, which he did not. There has been plenty of accusations and false statements and misinterpretations of Christ to go around, and of course, I’ve ignored all those. As I said before, in situations like this, it is like confronting a hydra. So far, H.L. has failed to provide any proof that, in regards to molestation, public schools are not worse than Catholic institutions. My challenge has remained unmet.

The fact that such a high burden of proof is being required of Catholics to explain why “Papist” is a derogatory term when any independent research of the word shows this to be true is another example of the double standard when it comes to anti-Catholic bigotry. Anti-Catholic critics coined the term “Papist” to imply that Catholics are not true Christians because we don’t follow Christ and instead just follow the Pope but this is not true because the Pope cannot create new Dogma. As I have repeatedly said, it is an offensive and demeaning term which is used to defame Catholics as dangerous cultists. It was used extensively in state persecutions of Catholics where penal laws treated Catholics as a “Papist” public nuisance to be regulated. There are numerous historical examples of where the term was used in a derogatory manner to defame Catholics including a former Governor and Democratic Presidential Candidate from this very state. It is employed by anti-Catholic bigots to this day to discriminate against Catholics. Google “KKK” and that term and you’ll find plenty of examples. This is all information I either have already told you or can easily be found by researching on the internet which is something that Alan practically does for a living.

I could not see Alan or the other “enlightened liberals” on this site so vehemently demanding another class of people to explain why they find a certain slur offensive. Alan explains that he has no respect for me personally so he ignore my objections, yet other Catholics have voiced similar complaints about the slur “Papist” and he has not offered a retraction. How many Catholics do we need? Do you want to meet with them face to face? What other hoops are you going to make us “Papists” jump through in order to issue an apology you would have issued to any other group by this point? Your initial use of the word was bad enough and you could have attributed that to a foolish mistake on your part but your sputtering response after the fact has really made both you and Artvoice look far, far worse. You could have nipped this in the bud right off the bat but instead choose to dig in your heels and dig the hole much deeper for yourself. The apology will eventually happen but the longer it takes, the less likely it will be other Catholics besides myself will be satisfied with it.

@Bbill
I second that statement. Actually though really creepy fits even better and also psychopath comes to mind as well.
Go away Patrick, Nothing to see here. And maybe take your equally creepy freinds with you.
Oh and @Joseph, Jesus was a liberal.And I think He was over 30 when He died.

The opportunism and subterfuge of the positions you strike in your comments here — false equivalencies, outsized indignation, evasion of counterpoints — do not bespeak a serious person concerned with truth, and so I will not correspond with you again.

Should you choose to try to convince our advertisers to take your argument seriously, I will respond to those with questions but not to you.

This isn’t a “shakedown.” I’m holding you to the same standard you hold others when it comes to hate speech. Catholics will no longer tolerate the double-standard for anti-Catholic bigotry. Obviously, this idiotic back-and-forth in the comment section is not getting us any where. Overly hyperlinked replies with “gotcha” personal put-downs is forcing this to go in circles. I and a growing number of other Catholics are extremely offended by your use of an anti-Catholic slur and even more offended by your refusal to even acknowledge it. Give me a few minutes over the phone to make my case. Once you hear me out and dismiss me again, we can see where this goes.

In any event, I see this has devolved, as did the last thread in which Mr. Krey inserted himself, into an odd, somewhat disturbing plea for personalized contact. Since I’m not interested at all, and there’s little more to add, I’m shutting comments down on this thread now. We won’t “see where this goes”.

As I wrote earlier, if advertisers express any concern, we’ll take it up with them.